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From Our Own Correspondent: India and Russia (Yakutia)

India and Russia (Yakutia)

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, India and Russia (Yakutia)

John Murphy presents despatches from Nidhi Dutt in Mumbai and Stephen Dalziel in Yakutia.

John Murphy with personal stories from correspondents around the world. Today: Nidhi Dutt on the political ideals of India's young achievers; Stephen Dalziel visits Yakutia, Russia's icy 'far east'.

John Murphy introduces reflection, wit and insight from correspondents around the world. In this edition, Nidhi Dutt finds more political depth than she expected among India's privileged young achievers, while Stephen Dalziel goes under the frozen ground of Yakutia in Russia's far-flung northeast.

Gilded youth - with unvarnished opinions

India is well known as the world's largest democracy and, in recent years, its economy has been powering ahead too. 

The country also has a huge and growing population, meaning it's  teeming with young people. 

They are of an age when they could - and should - be making things happen in their country, especially the wealthy and educated ones. 

But Nidhi Dutt says, despite their appearance of social privilege, the voices of these young achievers are seldom heard on the national or international stage.

Life in the (deep) freezer

India may be the largest democracy, but Russia is the world's largest country, stretching from the Baltic Sea in the west, thousands of kilometres to the Pacific in the east. 

Much of its territory experiences arctic and subarctic conditions. 

For long streches of every year, it's achingly cold, and the icy ground underfoot stays rock hard. And a lot of this vast land is simply ... empty. 

Stephen Dalziel recently wrapped up warm during a visit to Russia's far flung, deep-frozen region of Yakutia.

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